[ BUSINESS BRIEFS ]

Staff writer, with agencies

Wed, Oct 10, 2012 - Page 14

High-tech drags bourse down

The local bourse extended its losses yesterday from a session earlier as the high-tech sector was hit by concerns over sluggish global demand resulting from continuing weakness in economic fundamentals, dealers said.

In its latest research note, Morgan Stanley maintained its “underweight” rating on HTC and trimmed its target price to NT$175 from NT$194. It also lowered its estimates for HTC’s earnings per share by 10 percent to NT$24.17 this year and by 11 percent to NT$16.83 for next year.

The firm reported third-quarter consolidated revenue of NT$70.2 billion, down 23 percent from the second quarter. Its third-quarter earnings per share were NT$4.7, the company’s lowest since the third quarter of 2005. Shares slumped by the maximum 7 percent daily limit to close at NT$267 yesterday.

Export growth unlikely: Shih

Taiwan is unlikely to show growth in exports for the whole of this year, despite the increase last month that ended six consecutive months of year-on-year negative growth, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said yesterday.

Unless there is high growth for this month, next month and December, which in not likely, the annual figure will not be positive, Shih said.

On Monday, the Ministry of Finance reported exports hit a 14-month high of US$27.17 billion last month, which represented a 10 percent monthly growth and an annual increase of 10.4 percent.

Tax on cars hits NT$517.9m

Revenue from the luxury tax on imported passenger cars totaled NT$517.9 million in the first nine months of the year, the Directorate-General of Customs said yesterday.

Luxury passenger cars were the major source of revenue from the luxury tax on imported cars, accounting for about 55 percent of the total revenue, customs said.

Cars made by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) were the main contributors, bringing in a total of NT$228.25 million in revenue, followed by Porsche and Lamborghini, which contributed NT$189.42 million and NT$36.26 million respectively, customs said in a report.

However, a Lamborghini from Italy generated NT$2.35 million, the highest tax amount to be imposed on a single car, the report said.

In the first eight months, revenue from the luxury tax — the special tax on selected goods and services — stood at NT$2.8 billion, statistics showed.

NT dollar gains ground

The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.003 to close at NT$29.399 as foreign institutional investors served as net buyers of local shares to boost demand for the local currency, dealers said.